Enterprise Solution vs ASP

While it may seem that "outsourcing" is a relatively new wrinkle, in fact most of us have outsourced for years. I outsource my food production, my shelter building, my medical care, my utilities, my clothing, my transportation, and most everything else I need. I could do much of this myself, but know I would have to develop some expertise in most of these areas first.

The same applies with business. Most already outsource significant parts of their business from the buildings they are housed in to the utilities they use to the tools they require. In 1984, some corporations tried building their own PCs. Few stuck with it.

The downside of outsourcing is that the client loses their in house capability. It does not take long after outsourcing to lose the skills or even the personnel who might have done the work in house. This drives the cost for bringing it back inside high, and typically forces the client to became a consumer of the outsourced services from then on. Different skills are needed at this point - the ability to select providers at the best price and feature set.